The prediction, in brief:

In the process of creating virtual “neighborhoods” we are withdrawing from our own very real localities. To me, this is a continuation of a several-decades-long trend in American society toward the withdrawal of the upper and middle classes from the public sphere, i.e. the streets and parks of our cities and towns. At the same time the online community is growing, real communities are collapsing.

Predictor: WELL participant

Prediction, in context:

In her 1995 book “Life on the Screen,” Sherry Turkle – an accomplished social psychologist, sociologist and anthropologist from MIT whose studies centered around people and computers for decades – quotes a critical comment from a discussion group participant on The WELL in her Endnotes. She quotes directly:”Virtuality also implies to me a privileging of the global at the expense of the local. Yes, it’s great to be able to get to know people from all over the planet, without regard for their actual geographic location. I really think that’s good. But it seems to me that in the process of creating virtual ‘neighborhoods’ we are withdrawing from our own very real localities. To me, this is a continuation of a several-decades-long trend in American society toward the withdrawal of the upper and middle classes from the public sphere, i.e. the streets and parks of our cities and towns. At the same time the online community is growing, real communities are collapsing. Most people don’t even know their neighbors. The streets are controlled by thugs. Municipalities become more and more dependent upon, and powerless to control, multinational corporations, because local self-reliance, which originates in real-world interactions and organization among local residents, is atrophying. This is not good for democracy of the people of this country as a whole.”

Date of prediction: May 29, 1993

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Virtual Communities

Name of publication: Life on the Screen (book)

Title, headline, chapter name: Endnotes

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 315, 316

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney